


Code of Honor

by lonelyprinces



Category: Fruits Basket
Genre: Character Study, Kakeru is occasionally insightful, Kissing, M/M, Moral Ambiguity, Post-Canon, References to past trauma, Teasing, Young Love, friendly and romantic banter, really just the author being fascinated by Shigure and trying to understand him through Yuki's POV, references to akigure, yukeru
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:15:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27422572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lonelyprinces/pseuds/lonelyprinces
Summary: Yuki hadn't expected Shigure to develop a conscience after the curse broke. But returning to Akito, after all that had happened? It felt like a betrayal, somehow.
Relationships: Manabe Kakeru/Sohma Yuki, Sohma Akito/Sohma Shigure
Comments: 6
Kudos: 37





	Code of Honor

“Yun-Yun, you’re so quiet today, what gives? I didn’t piss you off again, did I?” Kakeru slings an arm over Yuki’s shoulders, planting a line of kisses along his jaw. Judging by the lack of hushed squeals from under the bleachers, the Prince Yuki Fan Club has decided to take the day off. And thank god for that—they’re both long overdue for some alone time, even just to chat.

Yuki, through great force of will, pulls himself out of his reverie. It’s become a sort of routine by now—Yuki loses himself in thought (or starts “acting like an airhead,” as his boyfriend likes to say), and Kakeru yanks him back down to earth again. For all his cockiness, Kakeru shows a surprising amount of patience on these occasions.

“I’m okay,” Yuki says, gazing out at the empty tennis courts. The sun hangs heavy in the sky, painting the fields in lush reds, purples, and blues. Cicadas buzz all around.

“Yun-Yun, I don’t believe you. Look at me.”

Kakeru turns Yuki’s chin gently towards his face. He knows full well that Yuki can’t resist the probing look in his big brown eyes. Or so he tells himself.

Yuki’s gaze, in turn, looks watery.

“What’s going on, Princess?” Kakeru puckers his lips. “Do I have to kiss it out of you?”

Yuki rolls his eyes and huffs a laugh.

“I’m always talking about my family problems.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it.” Kakeru cards a hand through Yuki’s bangs. “’S least I can do, with all the rambling I do.”

“Good point,” Yuki says, allowing himself a small smirk as Kakeru pecks his cheek. “Well, let’s see …” He drums his fingers on the bleachers. “You remember Shigure-san, right?”

Of course Kakeru remembers Shigure. The man who represented Tohru Honda during parent-teacher conferences, who’d simultaneously dazzled Yuki’s classmates and infuriated Mayuko-sensei. Shigure of the borrowed suit and the hair slicked back like a used car salesman. Shigure of the shit-eating grin and calculated charm.

“But of course, Yun-Yun. He’s Honda-kun’s daddy, right? And yours too?”

Yuki gives him such a frosty look that Kakeru actually yelps.

“Yun-Yun, you’re so _scary!_ ” Kakeru sidles up closer, knowing full well he’s about to lose cuddle privileges. “Okay, okay, I’m done. What about him?”

“Well, I—hm.” Yuki curls his hands into gentle fists on his knees. “I don’t know how much you gathered from him. He’s pretty hard to read.”

“He seems to like it that way,” Kakeru ponders.

“Yes—uh. That’s right.” Yuki shakes his head. “I—I don’t know how to articulate it. But, well … you remember what I told you about Akito-san, right?”

“Yun-Yun, of _course_ I remember. I’m a piece of shit, but not _that_ much of one, y’know?”

“Uh-huh. Well. Now that the curse is broken, and Akito’s trying to, uh, turn over a new leaf, not many of the rest of us—the other zodiac members—are really sure how to take it. We’re all wary of her.”

“Which makes total sense.”

Yuki squeezes his hands tighter. Kakeru, with surprising tenderness, coaxes one of the fists open and palms it in his own.

“It’s like, well. I knew Shigure-san was unscrupulous. Always thinking about what he stands to gain from something, like when he took me into his home. Even when he’s joking around with Honda-san and the others. It’s just his way. It’s not even necessarily a bad thing, most of the time.”

“But?”

“But now that we’re all free, he’s chosen to return to Akito. He serves her. He’s _romantically involved_ with her.” A pale pink stain spreads over Yuki’s cheeks. “And it’s all very Shigure-san of him. But ... I guess part of me wants to believe he wouldn’t have done that. Not after he rescued me from that dark room. Not after how Akito treated me all those years. That he’d, I don’t know, develop a conscience or something.”

It’s fully dark now, the kind of night with no stars. The lamps around the tennis courts flick on, followed by the full, fluorescent blast of stadium lights. Yuki shields his eyes.

“Hm. Yeah. I hear ya.” Kakeru sits in silence for a minute. “And you said he has good qualities? He took you in; he makes you laugh?”

“Something like that. But I’ll kill you if you tell him.”

Kakeru throws his head back and hoots with laughter. “What was it you said before, about Shigure-san being bound to Akito since—”

“Since the womb,” Yuki says, hardly believing it himself.

“Shit’s crazy,” Kakeru admits. “Well, look, Yun-Yun,” he says, massaging Yuki’s palm in slow circles with his thumb. “I don’t know how far back the curse goes, or what it causes people to do. I’m not even excusing his behavior, really. But he sounds like a complicated guy. Could he love Akito, y’know, because of this bond, but also be fond of you too and want you to be happy?”

“I don’t know,” Yuki says, his voice barely there.

“Again, not excusing him,” Kakeru says, throwing his hands up. “That must really hurt. I wouldn’t blame you for getting some space from him, and I definitely don’t blame you for steering clear of Akito.” He meets Yuki’s gaze directly. “Sounds like he’s no Prince Yuki. Fact of the matter is, though, most of us aren’t. Most of us don’t have some code of honor to uphold. Maybe we should, though. The world might be a better place if we did.”

Yuki feels his posture relax, though he’s not entirely sure why. This steady feeling, as though Kakeru’s words have clicked pieces of a puzzle together, ones he hadn’t known how to assemble himself.

“Is any of this getting through to you, my little airhead?”

Yuki flushes, feels a genuine smile tug at the corners of his mouth. His limbs feel warm and slow like honey, even as his heart hammers in his chest. Kakeru pulls Yuki’s head into the crook of his shoulder, and Yuki lets himself sink into the touch.

What was that analogy he’d heard about Shigure, way back when? 

_He’s like a ripple on the water. A wave that approaches and then recedes._ _The kind of man you can’t get a handle on._

Had Shigure been anyone else, in this same set of circumstances, Yuki would not have excused his behavior. He’d have given way to hurt, taken Shigure’s actions as a betrayal. But this situation feels different somehow. As though Akito and Yuki’s fates are woven together in Shigure’s mind, but at the same time, they aren’t. Yuki’s head throbs with it all.

“If that’s what not having a code of honor looks like,” Yuki mutters, “I don’t want any part of it.” He pauses. “But maybe things would be easier if I did.”

“Easier?” Kakeru shrugs. “Maybe. But I like you just the way you are. Stick up your ass and all.”

Yuki yanks Kakeru in a headlock; Kakeru lets out a high-pitched scream.

“Yun-Yun, _noooo_ , be gentle with me!”

_It doesn’t have to make sense. Shigure isn’t you._

_I like you just the way you are._

“You think too much,” Kakeru admonishes. “But to be fair, if I were in your position, I probably would, too. By the way, did any of what I said help at all? Even a little?”

“You sound pretty confident it did.” Yuki smirks and tightens his chokehold. “You sound pretty confident, period, for someone who’s being restrained.”

Kakeru squeals; Yuki covers his mouth before any faculty can swoop down on them. 

“Don’t do this to me, Yun-Yun. It’s sooo not princely of you.”

“Huh? Guess not.” The smirk widens as Yuki sets him free. “Guess people are complicated.”

“Huh. Guess so.”

**Author's Note:**

> As fascinating and complex as Shigure is, he's damn difficult for me to understand, and even harder for me to write. Although to be fair, I'm someone whose thought processes align much more with Yuki ;)


End file.
